June 2007/5

AmWINS Group, Inc, the private equity backed-US wholesale broker linked with a move for London market broker Besso Group, has bought The American Equity Underwriters, Inc, (AEU) and refinanced its debt to fund further “strategic acquisitions”.

Brit Insurance Holdings plc’s $200mn cat bond is the second publicly rated collateralised debt obligation of natural catastrophe risk, following Catlin’s debut Bay Haven Ltd transaction last September.

Capita CMGL is set to complete the reinsurance-to-close (RITC) transfer of the run-off Duncanson & Holt Syndicate 55 with capital supplied by CarVal Investors LLC, a fund backed by the agribusiness giant Cargill.

Andrew Carrier, active underwriter of Kiln Ltd’s catastrophe Syndicate 557 and the reinsurance division of its Syndicate 510, is quitting the Lloyd’s insurer.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has said it will mandate the use of the Electronic Claims File (ECF) for all in-scope claims from the Lloyd’s market as of 1 January 2008.

ACE Tempest Re Group, the reinsurance arm of ACE Ltd, has established an underwriting presence in Lloyd’s Chinese operation.

After more than five years absence from the London market, Tony Taylor returned to Lloyd’s with the arrival of Montpelier Re’s £47mn non-marine property and engineering Syndicate 5151.

The announcement in Parliament last week that the Government will examine changes to the 1982 Lloyd’s Act is likely to encourage some frenetic lobbying.

Ousted American International Group (AIG) supremo Maurice “Hank” Greenberg has countersued his former employer claiming the US giant’s board and new management are “seriously damaging” the company.

Insurers, brokers and rating agencies have put their weight behind legislation that proposes an extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) from a temporary programme to a more permanent ten-year facility.

Proposed start-up Leinster Group Ltd has refused to acknowledge defeat but the prospect of a launch on the Lloyd’s platform looks bleak after the Society rejected its application.

Swiss (re)insurer Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFS) announced the establishment of a new division for its direct business in Europe effective 1 July, with a subsequent internal management re-shuffle.